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It was funny, she thought numbly as she sat on the bench in the park, watching a mother strap a toddler into a pushchair, that two weeks ago she’d never even met the man and now here she was, struggling to work out a way of living her life without him.
And she would. Of course she would. She’d move on.
But she wasn’t moving on until she’d spoken to her father.
For the first time in her life she was going to speak up and tell him how she felt. She had to. She had so much anger and hurt boiling up inside her that she didn’t know what to do with it.
With a sigh that held both dread and resignation because she just hated confrontation, Grace stood up, walked across the park and then crossed the road to her father’s house.
Daisy, her father’s cleaner, opened the door. ‘Oh, Miss Thacker, where have you been?’ She looked flustered. ‘Your father’s been so worried …’
Worried about what? That he’d finally been found out? Grace felt a dull ache bloom inside her. ‘Is he in?’
‘Well, yes, he is, but he has a visitor.’ Daisy glanced nervously over her shoulder towards the study. ‘Perhaps you should wait here and I’ll tell him you’re here.’
Grace heard raised voices and her stomach churned with nerves. And then she remembered that newspaper article and the anger rose inside her again. It was time to confront her father and she didn’t care if she did it in public.
It had taken her a week to pluck up courage to come here. If she went away now, she’d never come back.
Ignoring Daisy’s feeble attempts to stop her, Grace walked across the hall and walked straight into her father’s study without bothering to knock.
Registering her father’s white face and blustering attitude, she reflected idly that whoever he was talking to clearly had the upper hand. And then she turned and saw Rafael standing by the fireplace. His dark eyes bright with anger, every inch of his powerful frame simmering with a volcanic fury that heated the room.
What was he doing here?
Concern for him gave way to hideous embarrassment as she remembered the newspaper article and suddenly she wanted to turn and run. And maybe he detected that impulse because he crossed the room in two strides and grabbed her hands in his, holding them in an iron grip.
‘You’re not going anywhere—I know you hate confrontation but this is one situation that you’re going to have to face because there are things that need to be said.’
How could she tell him that it wasn’t the confrontation that was scaring her away, it was her guilt and embarrassment at seeing him after everything her father had done? ‘I can understand that you’re angry, but—’
‘You’re right that I’m angry. Never have I been so furious like this and the reason is entirely you.’
Wondering why his English suddenly seemed less than fluent when he was always so enviably eloquent in her language, Grace studied him, thinking that he looked incredibly tired. Had he been working through the night again? ‘You’ve seen it, haven’t you? That awful article. I was upset by it too and—’
‘I’m not talking about the article. Do you really think I care about that? I’m angry because you completely disappeared from the face of the planet for an entire week and no one in the world seemed to know where you were! I’m on the verge of firing my entire London security team for being so inept!’
Her eyes widened. ‘Rafael—’
‘They lost you! I imagined you dead in a gutter somewhere, murdered by some lowlife that you trusted and saw good in …’ His bronzed, handsome face had turned several shades paler and his hands tightened on her arms. ‘Where have you been?’
Still recovering from the shock of seeing him there, Grace didn’t answer for a moment and he gave her a little shake.
‘Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been? Any idea at all? I’ve had my entire security team pacing the streets of London looking for you for the past week.’
His blistering anger stunned her. ‘You have?’
‘Where were you? My flight crew assured me that you were safely delivered to the airport and then you just vanished. Why?’
Her mouth was dry. ‘I saw the newspaper.’
‘And?’
‘And I just felt dreadful for you,’ she muttered. ‘I was so embarrassed. And so angry with my dad. I just couldn’t face him until I’d had a chance to calm down a bit.’
‘So why didn’t you just fly straight back to Rio and calm down in my forest?’
Wasn’t it obvious? ‘Because there have been enough people in your life willing to sell their story to the papers. You don’t need anyone else like that.’
